Since its beginnings in 1968 the Commission of the European Economic Community thought of how to include the youth in the integration of Europe. The final communiqué of the Summit conference of Heads of State and Government of The Hague in December 1969 states that the youth should participate actively in the building of a united Europe. But it is only in 1974 that concrete steps were taken the Council of European National Youth Committees (CENYC) and the European Co-ordination Bureau of International Youth Organisations (ECB) established contacts with the Commission and leading National Youth Councils in order to set up a Youth Forum. On the 15/10/1976 the "Temporary Secretariat of the European Youth Forum" (TS) was created, which had independent status from the Commission and was to study the possibility of creating a Youth Forum. One of its main tasks is to elaborate the statutes.
The files of this series illustrate mainly the work of the Temporary Secretariat with correspondence, minutes of meetings. Some documents however pertain to the activities of youth organisations prior to the creation of the Temporary Secretariat. The series includes also material pertaining to the plenary session of youth organisations held in June 1978 in Ariccia (Rome), where the creation of the Youth Forum of the European Communities was decided.